BARRIE -- A marijuana "factory" concealed within a sprawling old brewery just steps from one of Ontario's busiest highways is proof Canada's pot problem has reached "epidemic proportions," police said yesterday. The former Molson brewery in Barrie, plainly visible from Highway 400, one of the province's busiest commuter routes, was raided on the weekend by about 100 city and provincial police officers acting on a tip.
Inside, police found marijuana with what they said had an estimated street value of $30 million, along with a grow operation of staggering proportions -- the largest and most sophisticated in modern Canadian history.
"This is not a ma and pa operation," Barrie police Chief Wayne Frechette said at a news conference in this city an hour's drive north of Toronto.
Across a 5,400-square-metre complex the size of a football field, police found more than 25,000 pot plants growing everywhere -- even inside the cavernous indoor vats once used to brew beer.
Molson closed the brewery in 2000 and sold it to a company that leases space to about half a dozen businesses. The other companies included trucking companies and a bottling company, police said.
A police video shot shortly after the raid showed the vats teeming with marijuana plants and an elaborate electrical room where hydro was used to power the lights that facilitate the growing process.
Huge drawers, used to spread harvested marijuana to dry, were seen in the video, each one brimming with buds.
"This particular marijuana factory is the largest and most sophisticated I'm aware of in Canada," said provincial police deputy commissioner Vaughn Collins.
"Commercial marijuana operations have reached epidemic proportions in Ontario; they are in every community and most are controlled by organized crime."
The facility was set up to operate 24 hours a day and included living quarters capable of housing as many as 50 people at once, said OPP Det. Staff Sgt. Rick Barnum.
"These areas . . . included common areas with beds, televisions, fridges and stoves similar to dormitory-type facilities," Barnum said.
Marijuana grown in Canada is routinely shipped to the U.S., Collins said.
"Much of Ontario marijuana is destined for U.S. markets, and it's often traded for cocaine brought back into Canada."
Frechette, who cited the "big-box" operation as an example of how marijuana has allowed organized crime to penetrate Canadian communities, urged the public to be vigilant and watch for "suspicious activities."
Nine people were charged, eight of them with one count each of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Charged are Robert Bleich, 29, of Stayner; Tomas Gates, 33, of Corunna; Michael DiCicco, 60, and Scott Dillon, 23, both of Toronto; Scott Walker, 34, and Zoran Stojanovic, 49, both of St. Catharines; and Edward MacAdam, 43, and Craig Walker, 24, both of Niagara Falls.
Rayne Sauve, 36, of St. Catharines was also charged with one count of production of a controlled substance as well as one charge each of possession of cocaine, possession of ecstasy and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
A second grow house was also discovered Sunday just north of the city. Investigators seized more than 30,000 marijuana plants from the two locations.
The brewery operation is almost certainly not the only one of its scale in Canada, law enforcement officials warned.
"Just because we have not stumbled on them . . . doesn't mean they're not there," said RCMP Chief Supt. Raf Souccar, the force's director-general of drugs and organized crime.
"The risk is low, the profit is high, deterrence is not there, so it makes it an attractive proposition."
Police estimate there are about 15,000 illegal marijuana grow operations in Ontario.
But operations like the one in Barrie are not common, insisted Alan Young, a prominent Toronto lawyer best known for his work as a marijuana advocate and activist.
Young, who insisted most marijuana cultivated in Canada is grown on a small scale for personal use, accused police of trumpeting their discovery in Barrie in an effort to sway Ottawa away from decriminalization.
"This really was a lucky find for the police and they'll exploit it to gain greater support."

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A pensioner who stirred cannabis into her casseroles to ease her
depression and aching limbs was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid
work after she was convicted of growing and possessing the drug yesterday.

Outside court, Patricia Tabram, 68, said she would continue to defy the
law despite the fact that her conviction could lead to her being evicted
from her housing association bungalow. She added: "I have learned that
the English court system is a shambles. I'm going to go home now and
have a nice cannabis dinner - I need it to relieve my pain. I'm not a
drug addict, and the only thing I'm addicted to is Maltesers."

At Carlisle crown court, Judge Barbara Forrester told Tabram, of
Humshaugh, Northumberland, that she must pay Â£1,000 costs. She grew four
cannabis plants in her wardrobe and kept powdered cannabis in her
kitchen to put in various dishes.

The court heard that she used the drug to fight the depression she has
suffered since the death of her son in 1975. It also eased aches and
pains resulting from two car crashes, she said. Tabram claimed that
adding cannabis to hot chocolate gave her five hours without pain, and
said she did not want to take prescription drugs, which she said caused
her side-effects.

Earlier, the judge said she accepted Tabram was only growing the drug
for personal use. She said: "It is accepted that the cannabis was for
your personal use and you used it to self-medicate."

Tabram, who used to run a restaurant and stood for parliament in 2005 on
a pro-cannabis ticket, was convicted of possession with intent to supply
two years ago.On the first day of her latest trial, on Monday, she
smuggled bags of cannabis into court in her bra. The bags were listed as
items of evidence and produced by her when she spoke from the witness box.

She has been supported during the trial by pro-cannabis campaigners
including Mark and Lezley Gibson, from Alston, Cumbria, convicted last
year of making and distributing cannabis-laced chocolate bars to
multiple sclerosis sufferers.

After yesterday's conviction, Mrs Gibson said: "I am devastated for her
- I cannot believe that juries are so spineless ... The jury has not
taken into account the fact that she is ill because the judge did not
let them." In her summing up, the judge said that "the defence of
medical necessity has never been a defence".

no problems with taxing the cancer stick or alcohol. you guys can't be that thick.

oh yea they tax the shit out of the smokers . i think its about 8 bucks a pack now.

i live close to a reserve there are just inside of the reserve 4 businesses 3 sell Indian smokes (non taxed) complete with drive through windows, one sells gas 2 cents a liter cheaper than anywhere else , in the summer there are lineups for half a mile just to buy smokes and get cheap gas.

oh yea they tax the shit out of the smokers . i think its about 8 bucks a pack now.

i live close to a reserve there are just inside of the reserve 4 businesses 3 sell Indian smokes (non taxed) complete with drive through windows, one sells gas 2 cents a liter cheaper than anywhere else , in the summer there are lineups for half a mile just to buy smokes and get cheap gas.